1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a continuous riveter for continuously ejecting blind rivets that effect the caulking on metal plates and so on (the blind rivet being hereafter referred to as a rivet).
2. Description of the Related Art
The typical continuous riveter includes one that is disclosed by Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 7-236936 (Title of the Invention: xe2x80x9cRiveterxe2x80x9d) and shown in FIGS. 8 to 13, and another prior thereto that is shown in FIG. 14.
FIGS. 8, 9 and 14 show a state where a shank R1 of the rivet R is held in a continuous riveter to insert a head R2 into a hole of a metal plate H, which is followed by xe2x80x9ccaulkingxe2x80x9d.
Next, as shown in FIG. 10, a jaw case piston 20 is raised to move a jaw case 22 upwardly, whereby the pair of jaw 24 is biased to the lower part by springs via the jaw pusher 26. The jaw 24 glides to the lower part of the tapered surface 23 (refer to FIG. 13) of the jaw case 22, to thereby come close to each other and is raised upwardly by clamping the shank R1 of the rivet R (FIG. 9). Accordingly, the jaw 24 clamps the shank R1 and moves upwardly, so that xe2x80x9ccaulkingxe2x80x9d is conducted with the raise of the shank R1. Subsequently, the head R2 is held at the tip end of the nose piece 32 so the shank R1 is cut off from the head portion R2.
Next, as shown in FIG. 10, when a nose piston 30 is raised, a cylinder 31 is raised together with a nose piece 32. Accordingly, the shank R1 is moved upwardly away from the metal plate H. Then, as shown in FIG. 11, the shank R1 is vacuum-collected into a shank accommodating case 14 by a vacuum ejector 11, and the jaw case piston 20 and the nose piston 30 are moved up to their upper dead points. Therefore, the nose piece 32 is moved upwardly above a next shank R1.
At this time, as shown in FIG. 12, a feeding claw 46a which is connected to a feeding hole T6 of a blind rivet holder T, pulls out the blind rivet holder T, which has been moving forward by the piston 45 of the tape air cylinder 42, from the accommodation case 40 to move it for one shank, and sets the tip end of the shank R1 on top of the axis at the lower part of the nose piece 32 (refer to FIGS. 11 and 12).
As described above, after caulking one shank, the cylinder 31 is moved downwardly with the jaw case 32 to caulk the next shank R1.
The continuous riveter shown in FIG. 14 is designed such that the nose piece 32 is separated, but the structure of xe2x80x9ccaulkingxe2x80x9d is the same as that shown in FIGS. 8 to 13. The structure of xe2x80x9ccaulkingxe2x80x9d of the present invention is the same as that shown in FIGS. 8 to 13.
In the above, a distance between the rivets R is required to be set so as not to hinder the lowering movement of the cylinder 31.
FIG. 13 is an explanatory view, which is a side view of FIG. 12.
FIGS. 15 to 17 show a xe2x80x9cblind rivet holderxe2x80x9d which is registered as Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 3028739 by the present applicant before this application. This blind rivet holder is designed such that the rear portion of the riveter can be held upwardly to ease the rivet ejecting operation. Further, in order to increase the number of the rivets R held in an elongated plastic member T1 which forms the blind rivet holder T, the rivets R are supported by the upper and lower tabs T4 and T5 respectively not in an perpendicular direction with respect to the longitudinal direction of the elongated plastic member T1 but in an inclined direction. Even if the continuous riveters shown in FIGS. 8 to 13 and FIG. 14 are modified to use the blind rivet holder T, a rivet distance is required where the lowering movement of the cylinder 31 is not hindered as shown in FIGS. 15 to 17.
As described above, the conventional continuous riveters need to set the rivet R distance in the blind rivet holder T to be such rivet distance as to avoid hindering the lowering movement of the cylinder 31. Therefore, the riveters suffer from a problem in that the large number of rivets R can not be accommodated in the accommodation case 40.
The present invention has been made in view of the aforementioned problem. An object of the present invention is to provide a continuous riveter which can make the rivet distance in the blind rivet holder T small, thereby making it possible to accommodate the large number of the rivets R in the small accommodation case 40.
According to the present invention, there is provided a continuous riveter comprising:
a chuck cylinder;
a nose piston inserted to the chuck cylinder so as to be movable vertically, and provided at its lower end with an elongated cylinder;
a jaw case piston with a jaw case inserted to the cylinder so as to be movable vertically;
a jaw, internally inserted to a lower end of the jaw case and engageable and disengageable with and from a tapered surface on an internal lower end of the jaw case, for holding and releasing a shank of a blind rivet;
a jaw pusher elastically biased to abut against a top of the jaw;
a nose piston which is disposed at a lower end of the cylinder, and to which the shank of the blind rivet is to be inserted; and
a rivet supply section including:
an accommodation case for accommodating therein a web-like blind rivet holder in a wound state which is mounted with a blind rivet; and
a tape air cylinder for guiding the blind rivet holder along a guide plate and supplying the blind rivet mounted on the blind rivet holder one by one, characterized in that:
the guide plate is elongated from the accommodation case of the rivet supply section, and includes a linear feed section of a predetermined length and a bent section inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the linear feed section, whereby a perpendicular section of the blind rivet holder is bent along the bent section, after being passed through the linear feed section of a predetermined length;
a pressing plate is provided, for pressing and guiding the perpendicular section of the blind rivet holder, along the guide face from the linear feed section to the bent section of the guide plate, whereby the blind rivet holder sent out linearly by a feeding claw that reciprocatingly linearly moves by means of the tape air cylinder, is guided from the linear feed section to the bent section, and is then bent therealong due to the pressing plate; and
the cylinder of the nose piston is positioned on the axis of the shank of the blind rivet in the upper and lower tab immediately after the blind rivet holder has passed the linear feed section of the guide plate and has been bent at the bent section, and is disposed so that the axis of the blind rivet corresponds to the cylinder axis.